Chickens are much more intelligent than has been assumed in the past. They have an ability to tell people apart and a greater sense of spatial awareness than young children.
Male chicks cannot lay eggs and therefore have no use to the egg industry. These chicks are killed shortly after birth in various horrible ways, such as being gassed using carbon dioxide or through "quick maceration" (being blended alive). Those "lucky" enough to be born female end up in the same awful slaughterhouses as those raised for meat after just a few years of continual egg production.
There are lots of problems with our relationship with farm animals. For example, there is widespread concern about the confinement of these animals, with growing opposition to factory farming.
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But surely, the worst thing anyone can do to an animal, whether we're talking about a farm animal or a dog, is to kill them against their will.
And we certainly have no need to do this. It is clear that we cannot justify the slaughter of animals on the basis of needing animal products for our health or survival.
Mainstream health organisations like the American Dietetic Association accept that we can get all the nutrients we need on a vegan diet, which does not include any animal products. So eating products like flesh, dairy and eggs from farm animals is no more necessary than Adriaens consumption of dog flesh.
When it comes to farm animals, the concepts of "humane" slaughter and "humane" animal products are widely accepted. Adriaens' claims he killed the puppy "humanely" – a point that will be of little comfort to most people. Most people will, quite rightly, oppose the slaughter of this puppy, regardless of how "humanely" it was carried out.
I see no rational reason why we shouldn't extend this same logic to farm animals like cows, pigs, sheep and chickens.
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About the Author
Nick Pendergrast is a PhD candidate who studies and teaches Sociology at Curtin University in Western Australia. His research focuses on the animal advocacy movement, primarily in Australia and the United States, and explores the range of ideologies, activism, organisations, and key actors that make up this movement.